Stand By Me
by The Utterly Fabulous Z
Summary: Have you ever felt that you needed someone to count on and trust? Someone to help you get through tough times? Someone to help you get over the past? Dakota Carroll certainly has. And when two people from a fictional world (to her) break into her house in the middle of the night, she knows, she just KNOWS, these people are there for her. And she for them. Rated: death sad things.


Hey hey hey! This was born on Thanksgiving when I FINALLY saw CATWS. Happy belated Thanksgiving to all you wonderful people!

I've started up this thing I call the **'THE PLAYLIST CHALLENGE!'**

I'm going to write a fanfic for each song in my favorite playlist.

SEVENTY FIVE FANFICS, HERE I COME. (This is not one of them, just putting that out there. Thank the gods I started one already.)

 **DISCLAIMER: IF I OWNED MARVEL, STUCKY WOULD BE A CANON THING BY NOW. BUT ANY AND ALL OC'S ARE MINE.**

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This story begins with two men on a dirt road, one supporting the other as they make their way down the path. The one supporting is tall, blond, and muscular; the other brunet, muscular, and cradling one arm to his chest. The two walk slowly so the latter won't fall as his footing is unsteady, despite the firm ground underneath his shoes. His breathing turns to small gasps for breath, and his sluggish pace slows even further.

"Hang in there. You can rest in a little while." The blond whispers to his companion, who weakly moans. "Do you think you're getting worse?" The blond asks worriedly to which his only reply is a slow head shake. The blond still appears worried, however, as he is suspicious of his friend. He shifts his grip on his best friend, and the latter shudders as a light breeze whooshes past.

The two continue their slow trek along the road until they find a house on a short hill with all of the lights off except for a lamp post across the way. "Come on, there's a house. Just a little farther." The blond man tells his friend. The brunet takes a step forwards and suddenly collapses to the ground in a cold sweat. The blond gasps and picks up his best friend, running towards the house. He picks the lock on the door, a skill one of his friends taught him in case of emergencies, and rushes into the building. He lays the brunet down on a couch he finds as he enters an open kitchen close to the door, kneeling by his side.

"Hey, can you hear me? Come on buddy, answer me." He pleads, gently slapping his 'brother' on the cheek. The blond can feel his own heart beating faster with each passing minute, each minute the brunet doesn't stir.

The brunet doesn't wake, but the arm he was cradling to his chest flops off of the couch, his gloved fingers brushing the floor. The blond places the brunet's hand back on the couch, and falls into a light sleep beside him.

The next morning on the floor just above, a teenage girl stirs from her slumber, slowly getting up and stretching and getting ready for the day; albeit not getting dressed. She shuffles downstairs, rubbing the last dregs of sleep from her eyes as she plods into the kitchen.

She notices a sound in the room aside from her own quiet footsteps, someone's breathing… no, two people's breathing. One soft and steady, the other mildly rattling and quicker. She cautiously moves towards the sounds, finding a pair of grown men either on or leaning against the couch. She takes a step backwards, only to have the floor creak under her weight and the blond man shoots up, whirling around. "A kid?" He mutters in disbelief. "Look, kid, I can explain-"

"Oh my gods, you're Captain America." The girl's eyes widen and her jaw drops. "But, that must make him… oh my gods." The girl takes a deep breath and slaps herself across the face. "That was a terrible first impression…" she mumbles, the tips of her ears turning red under her silky brown hair. "I'll forgive your b-and-e if it was for a good cause, which I'm pretty sure it was. My name's Dakota Carroll." The girl, Dakota, holds out a hand for Cap to shake. He takes it after a moment of hesitation.

"Steve Rogers. A pleasure to meet you, miss." Steve replies, somewhat shocked he gave her his real name.

"Ah, none of that 'miss' stuff. And I assume your friend is Bucky Barnes." Dakota waves off the comment. She then walks over towards the couch and peers at Bucky, watching sweat roll down his face. "He looks really sick." She comments off-handedly, gently wiping sweat from his forehead. "You know what he has?" Dakota looks up at Steve, her blue eyes shining from under her overgrown bangs.

"No, but he's been feverish for almost a week now. Just yesterday, he collapsed in the middle of the road. Before that, I asked him if he was feeling worse and he shook his head. He's as stubborn as always." Steve looks down at Bucky, worry in his eyes.

"Looks like flu to me. I have some medicine upstairs, I'll go get it." Dakota stands up and heads back towards the stairs, a faint popping noise coming from her knees. Her eyes widen a fraction and she hurries back upstairs.

As she climbs, she mumbles to herself. "Stupid legs… going and popping like that. Now I'm gonna hafta explain it…" Dakota huffs as she rifles through the medicine cabinet in her bathroom. "Where's the stupid thing? It's gotta be here somewhere!" She finds it behind a bottle of cough syrup, picking it up and speed-walking back to the couch. "Got it." She tosses the box to Steve and he catches it.

"Thank you." He nods and kneels to Bucky's level. "C'mon Buck, wake up." Steve lightly slaps Bucky's face and a groan comes from the man.

"S…Steve? Th… that you?" Bucky croaks, opening his unfocused eyes. "Wh…what happ-" his sentence getting cut off by a couple of harsh, raspy coughs. "…happened?"

"You passed out in the middle of the street, and I carried you to the house on the hill." Steve answers, motioning for Dakota to come over. The girl does and Bucky stares at her. "This is Dakota, it's her house. She brought you some medicine. I need you to take it, Buck."

"…'m fine. Don' need it." Bucky slurs before coughing again.

Dakota pulls a forehead thermometer out of her pocket and swipes it across his forehead, looking at the reading and pursing her lips. "Well, the 104.7 degree fever you're running says otherwise." She pipes up. Steve's eyes widen in a slight panic. "James Buchanan Barnes, you _will_ take that medicine or so help me…" Dakota scolds, taking the medicine from Steve and opening it.

Bucky frowns before reluctantly taking a pill and dry-swallowing it. He sends an unfocused glance at his best friend before drifting off to sleep. Dakota sighs in relief; she didn't think he would actually take the medicine. "So how did you know Bucky's full name?" Steve asks, an interrogating tone in his voice.

Dakota stares straight into his blue eyes. "Is it a crime to look people up in the Internet?" She replies, standing and stretching. "Well, I'm gonna get dressed. Don't break anything." She starts walking away and her right knee makes a clicking sound. "Dag gummit, knee, shut it, will you?" She pouts, whacking her knee. She comes back down a few minutes later wearing gray yoga pants and a gray t-shirt that reads 'I run this town' on the front and '… you just jog it.' on the back.

She walks over to a cabinet and pulls out two cups and two spoons, before grabbing ingredients from various locations. Steve takes a seat on the floor next to Bucky, watching him like a hawk. Dakota strolls over and hands Steve a cup of hot chocolate. "You look like you need something to warm you up. It gets pretty cold out there, even though it's barely October." She smiles warmly and sits down next to Steve, sipping her own hot chocolate.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to go through the trouble…" Steve starts and Dakota chuckles.

"None of that, if I want to do something for someone, I'll do it. I wanted you to have the gosh diddly darn hot chocolate." She scolds jokingly, but still with some seriousness.

The two talk for a bit about trivial topics, the weather, and other things. Bucky lets out a small groan and shivers in his sleep, curling in on himself. Dakota stands up with a serious look on her face. She walks out of the room only to come back with a small stack of blankets in her arms. She drapes two over Bucky and the third over Steve. He moves to take off the blanket and Dakota looks at him sadly. "Please, just keep the blanket on." She murmurs, and Steve wraps the blanket around him tightly; not sure why he was doing it, and not sure why Dakota seemed so sad.

"May I ask why?" Steve wonders and Dakota clenches her fist.

"You two remind me of my brothers, Dylan and Louie. They disappeared when I was seven. Haven't seen 'em since." Dakota sits down and hugs her knees. "I miss my big bros." she sniffles, wiping away a tear. "An' I miss Mom an' Daddy."

Steve senses a story behind that, but decides not to press. Instead, he takes the blanket, and brings Dakota under it. "I'm sure you'll see your brothers again." He murmurs to Dakota, looking at Bucky. "I found mine after seventy years."


End file.
